It's been over a week since racist graffiti was found in several locations on the Eastern Michigan University campus.

The campus is home to the Early College Alliance, where high school students can earn college credit. ECA organized a "unity in the community" event Thursday to unite against the recent incident outside King Hall, where the program is located.

Early College Alliance students are ranked sixth out of more than 800 high schools on Michigan Merit Exam math and reading test scores.

The rankings for the program at Eastern Michigan University are from the website schooldigger.com, which last year ranked the ECA 41st in the state.

Washtenaw Educational Options Consortium Director Dave Dugger says the jump was due to a focus on improving literacy education, and spending one day a week understanding and practicing writing for the ACT.

Ann Arbor Public Schools will continue to participate in three county-wide, alternative programs for high school students. The Board of Education Thursday night voted to maintain it's relationship with the consortium that includes the Early College Alliance (ECA), Washtenaw International High School (WI-High) and Widening Achievement for Youth (WAY) program. The resolution calls on Superintendent Jeanice Swift to target no more than 10 spots in the WAY program, 35 new slots in the E-C-A, and 40 new slots for Wi-High. District officials had called into question whether Ann Arbor should continue in the consortium, citing a lack of transparency and communication with Washtenaw Intermediate School District officials that op[erate the program. WISD Superintendent Scott Menzel apologized for communication issues and says they will do better in the future. Ann Arbor school board members also accepted some of the blame in the communication break-down and for missing consortium meetings. For a full report, listen below.

Ann Arbor Public Schools have still not determined how much they will participate in three county-wide high school options. The school board last night postponed a vote until next week's study session on how many seats they will use in the Early College Alliance, Washtenaw International High School, and Widening Advancement for Youth. The delay comes with Ann Arbor Schools wanting to use many fewer seats than the consortium has allocated to the district.

Superintendent Jeanice Swift says much of the confusion has been blamed on the superintendent transition, but she believes both parties are to blame for the communications issues. Swift recommended the district use 80 seats total in the ECA and Wi-Hi and 15 for WAY. The allocation approved by the consortium last month would give Ann Arbor 80 new seats in the ECA alone, and a straight lottery for Wi-Hi.

David Dugger is the Washtenaw Intermediate School District Director of Secondary Options. Dugger says the other consortium members in October opted to continue to use a straight lottery for Wi-Hi and a proportional system to assign slots to the ECA.

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WEMU's Andrew Cluley reports on Ann Arbor Schools delaying a decision on how much they will participate in the Early College Alliance, Washtenaw International High School, and the WAY program.